Sweet and Spicy Seitan-Potato Empanadas

Viva Vegan! has been in my possession for a while, but I really haven’t made much out of it yet. So when planning the weekly shopping recently, I picked out two recipes to make. TheĀ Sweet and Spicy Seitan-Potato Empanadas was the first one. I’d already stocked the freezer with a couple of packages of vegan empanada wrappers so these went a little faster than if you had to make those too.

Kevin doesn’t like olives, so I left those out. Instead of making seitan, I just rehydrated some beefy TVP chunks. They worked beautifully. The more you cook, the more you get a feel for easy substitutions.

Just a little steamed broccoli on the side to round out the meal. This was lunch. The seams held up really well. Only a couple leaked.

 

 

 

Blackened tempeh

This borrows from a recipe that goes way back to 1996, the early days of my vegetarianism. Sometimes there is a component of a recipe that would do well in another setting. Here, the blackened tempeh makes an awesome meal with raw kale salad and mashed potatoes & gravy. It would also be amazing on a sandwich. Maybe that’s how I’ll eat it next.

Cakeapalooza potluck

 

The theme for this month’s Atlanta Vegan Lunch Group‘s potluck was Cakeapalooza in honor of Lisa‘s Birthday. It wasn’t all cake though. We made a pretty good well-rounded meal out of it. We brought zucchini frittata. A double recipe fills a half sheet pan like so.

 

And we also brought a lentil potato salad.

Note, if you’re going to mix lentil sizes, start the bigger ones cooking before adding the smaller ones. My small ones got a little mushy. But they ate just fine.

My plate full of tasty bits:

 

How adorable are these cupcakes? They came from a bakery we didn’t know existed.

 

Dessert plate!

 

 

Butternut Squash Gratin with Onions and Sage

A couple of weeks ago I impulse bought a butternut squash. I do that, especially with sturdier vegetables. It’ll just hang out while you figure out what to do with it. This is what happened to that butternut squash. It became a gratin! This is a great example of why you shouldn’t ignore non-vegan cookbooks. Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone was one of my earlier cookbooks and I still use it often. Veganizing this recipe is no hardship. Substitute vegan milk for regular, vegan cheese for regular. Done!

This would make an awesome Thanksgiving side. It also allows me to use the sage growing outside my kitchen. It and the rosemary bush are the only edible plants that I have that thrive without any care whatsoever. I’ve got a pot of mint planted and hope it’ll join them in that.

 

 

Classic Tuscan White Bean Soup

Oh, what’s this? Soup? I can’t stop! Things are really busy around here lately and I have no imagination when it comes to food. A bowl of soup and some toast is awesome when you’re in a hurry. I still had an asston of white beans left, so I tried out this Classic Tuscan White Bean Soup from Vegan Italiano. It was simple and hearty. Made a really satisfying meal. To get my veggies covered off, I tossed in some kale. You can almost never go wrong by tossing mild greens into a soup.